My baby is a toddler

Where has the time gone?!  Even though he'll always be my baby, Richie is now a toddler!  He is almost 14 months and he is a walking, talking, eating machine!  Richie started walking just after his 1st birthday....and he hasn't stopped since.  Once he learned how to walk, he immediately stopped crawling.  He walks all around the house and rarely sits still.  He completely exhausts his Mommy and Daddy!  He is also babbling a ton (while walking, haha) and I would just love to know what he is trying to tell us sometimes.  He is using some syllables with intent now ("ba" for "ball" and "pop" when he wants to use his popping walker toy).  His understanding of language is unbelieveable - he follows so many simple directions now and his vocabulary is growing and growing.  He continues to eat really well thank goodness.  He loves fruit and will eat that off of his plate before anything else.  Even though Richie tires me out, he makes our home so much fun and we wouldn't have it any other way!  Below are some recent pictures that I thought were too cute not to share. 

Cuddling with his blankie and puppy pillow

 LOVES his blankie

 "Are you expecting me to smile for this picture?"

 "Which one should I open first?"

 Daddy reading to Richie

 Playing in his tunnel from Aunt Amy

 Big and Mini Jackson fans

 Pushing his buggy around

 Visiting with Steph and Aunt Andrea

Welcome Katie Kelly

On December 12th, my good friend, Joanie, and her husband, Brian, welcomed their 1st baby, Katelyn ("Katie") Kelly into the world!  She is such a cutie and we couldn't be happier for them!  Looks like Richie has another girlfriend to play with :)  Congratulations Joanie and Brian!

Soundly sleeping :)

A visit with Gigi and Uncle Clifford

Right before the New Year, Great Grandmom Gigi and Uncle Clifford came by for a visit.  We really enjoyed our time with them.  Gigi brought Richie the cutest singing Snoopy and I think it was one of Richie's favorite presents!  The days following our visit he would bring Snoopy over to Rich and me to get Snoopy to do his song and dance....it was really cute!  Thanks Clifford for visiting with us!  

Backtracking.....

Sorry for the lack of blog posts.  We were so busy from the fall with Richie's birthday and then going right into the holidays.  Below are a bunch of posts backtracking to Halloween!  There are more to come but the little man is waking so they will have to wait for a bit.....enjoy!

Happy Holidays

We were really busy over the holidays and had a great time everywhere we went.  Richie really enjoyed himself as you can see from the pictures but he was one tired little boy when all of the festivities were over!  Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas 2011 :) 

Christmas Eve at Mimi's

Enjoying his new toy from Mimi

 Aunt Grace and Richie

 Uncle Tom, Aunt Donna, and Richie

 Richie really liked Madeline's soccer snuggie....perhaps he'll want one for himself next yr!

 The annual "cousins shot"

 Christmas Day....Santa came! 

 The BIG piano!

 Not sure who was more excited about the big piano!  Rich demonstrating!

 Richie's gonna give it a try

 Daddy and Richie

 Mommy and Richie

 Grandpop came over to visit Christmas morning

 Richie with Daddy and Grandpop

 Grandpop gave Richie his own chair and he loves it!

 Granny and Pop also gave Richie his own chair....now we have one on each floor....and he loves this one too!!

 Cuddling up while he watches his music videos.

Granny and Pop with Richie on Xmas.

 Our family

 Aunt Andrea, Richie (looking very tired!), Granny and Aunt Janet

 The ladies with Richie

Happy Birthday Pop!

On December 23rd, we celebrated Pop's birthday!  We had a great time celebrating the day with Granny, Pop, and Aunt Amy.  

 Richie helping himself to Pop's cake.

 Aunt Amy gave Richie an early Xmas present...a rocking horse! 

Professional Pictures

For Richie's Baptism, my Aunt Andrea gave Richie a photo shoot with a professional photographer.  The photographer likes to take pictures of the kids once they can sit up so we decided to wait until closer to Richie's 1st birthday to do the shoot.  She was great and was also nice enough to take some shots of the the 3 of us.  It was a gorgeous fall day and Richie did amazing!  Many of you have probably already seen these pictures but I thought I would post them in case you didn't see them!